The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

Chapter 28

Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim!—Revelation comes line upon line and precept upon precept—Christ, the sure foundation, is promised.

1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the adrunkards of bEphraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of cthe fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a atempest of hail and a destroying bstorm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the ahasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

5 ¶ In athat day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of bglory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

7 ¶ But athey also have berred through cwine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the dprophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

8 For all tables are full of vomit andafilthiness, so that there is no place clean.

9 ¶ Whom shall he teach aknowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that arebweaned from the cmilk, and drawn from the breasts.

10 For precept must be upon precept, aprecept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

13 But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, aprecept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and bfall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 ¶ Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing ascourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our brefuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

16 ¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a afoundation a bstone, a tried stone, a precious ccorner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

18 ¶ And ayour covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

21 For the Lord shall rise up as inamount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of bGibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his cstrange act.

22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a aconsumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

23 ¶ Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

29 This also acometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.